Dulcimer



I. D.`BAGDASARIAN. DULCIMER.

m1479323. Patented July 19,1892- lllll'l (No Model.)

I. D. BAGDASARIAN.

DULCIMER.

UNITEDr STATESA PATENT OFFICE.

IGNATIUS D. BAGDASARIAN, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

DULCIMER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 479,323, dated July 19, 1892.

Application i'lle April `19, 1892 Serial No. 429,711. (No model.)

.To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IGNATIUs D. BAGDASA- RIAN, a subject of the Sultan of Turkey, and a resident of the city of Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dulcimers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention in a dulcimer of otherwise suitable construction and parts consists in the combination, with the usual end bridges for the strings and the regular stringing of the instrument, in which the several strings crossing and confined on said end bridges are at their opposite ends secured, as usual, to the ends of the body of the instrument, of bridgeposts for said strings, one for each thereof, representing either singly or in a series a given note or tone of the compass of the instrument, and severally located between said end bridges, but unattached to and at a uniform height and a height greater than that of the end bridges from the sounding-board and in two rows converging from the front toward the rear side of the instrument, and alternating those of one with those of the other row in a support of said strings, and all in a manner that the string or strings representing a given note or tone rest on a bridgepost of one row and pass between contiguous bridge-posts of the other row, and so on alternately.

In combination with the above the invention consists of stiffening skeleton bars for the sounding-board arranged in pairs, one pair for each row of bridge-posts, and attached to the bottom and front and rear walls of the instrument-body, and those of each pair converging in a direction opposite to that of the row of bridge-posts to which they belong and so as to stiifen and brace the board against the pressure exerted on it by them because of the tension of the strings at rest on them.

In addition to the above, the invention consists of blocks, one at each end of the instrument-body, one to receive the hitch-pins and the other the tuning-pins for the strings, and each having a downward and outward incline from the end bridge at the corresponding end of the dulcimer.

In the drawings forming part of this specication, Figure l is a plan view of the dnlcimer. Fig. 2 isa central longitudinal vertical section, line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a central transverse vertical section, line 3 3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective of one of the bridgeposts.

In the drawings, A, B, C, and D represent, respectively, the front, rear, and right and left end walls, and E the sounding-board, and F the bottom wall severally of the body of the dulcimer, and which body from end to end and side to side is trapezoidal in outline, the two ends similarly converging fromthe front to the rear, and the front and rear of the body being parallel. Each end wall C D consists of a solid wooden block rigidly joined to the sounding-board E and bottom F of the dulcimer-body and having a downward and outward incline G from the sounding-board to t the bottom of the body, preferably more or loss concave, as shown, Fig. 2. One of the end blocks receives the hitch-pins m and the other the tuning-pins n for the strings II.

J and J2 are the two end bridges for the strings H, and both are secured to but at opposite ends of the sounding-board, with the edge r of each coincident with the edge at the upper side of the inclined end blocks C D, and both suitably adapted, as well known, for illustration, with a raised bearing and notched edge u and otherwise, all as well known, to receive and make rests for the several strings strung by the hitch and tuning pins lengthwise of the sounding-board and either singly or in sets, according' as may be desired for the musical compass which the dulcimer is to have.

In the Stringing of the dulcimer the several strings are given a positive bight over the edge r of each end bridge J J 2 because of the downward and outward incline of the end blocks, and at which the hitch and tuning pins are set, and so plainly the bearing of the strings on the end bridges is made most positive and firm.

K are bridge-posts located on but unattached to the sounding-board E and of a uniform height, but a height greater than that of the end bridges, between which they are in two separate rows severally disposed. Said rows converge from the front toward the rear of the dulcimer and those of one row alternating with those of the other row in support IOO of and bearing for the strings as they are relativelydisposed on the end bridges and so having the several sets of strings alternately at rest on a bridge-post of one and passing between two contiguous bridge-posts of the other row, Figs. l and 2. As the bridge-posts are unattached to the sounding-board, they are free for adjustment, as may be desired, and with the strings diposed relatively to them, as has been described, obviously a greater range of the musical scale can be secured within a given width and length of sounding-board than could be possibly attained in a corresponding width and length of the board without the bridge-posts and their arrangement and support of the strings, all as has been explained.

L L2 and M lVI2 are two pairs of skeleton brace and stiffening bars for the soundingboard, one pair for each row of bridge-posts. These bars are severallyattached to the sounding-board and the bottom and front and rear walls of the instrument, and are located those of each pair to converge from the rear to the front of the instrument-that is to say, in the opposite direction to the converge of the bridge-posts and to support the board at opposite sides of the row of bridge-posts to which they belong. By these bars the soundingboard is braced against the downward pressure from the strain of the strings exerted through the bridge-posts on the soundingboard, and as they are of skeleton construction the vibration of the sounding-board and of the movement of sound within the body of the instrument is interfered with to no practical extent.

Having thus described my invention, wha I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a dulcimer, the combination, with the end bridges of the sounding-board and the Stringing of the instrument, of two separate rows of bridge-posts unattached to and at a greater height from the sounding-board than the height of said end bridges and converging from the front to the rear of the dulcimer and having theA strings at a bearing thereon, but alternately as to those of each row, substantially as described, for the purpose specied.

2. In a dulcimer, blocks to receive'the hitch and tuning pins, located at opposite ends of the instrument, and each made with a downward and outward incline from the corresponding end bridge, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

8. In a dulcimer, the combination, with the end bridges of the sounding-board and the Stringing of the instrument, of two separate rows of bridge-posts `unattached to and at a greater height from the sounding-board than the height of said end bridges and converging from the front to the rear of the dulcimer and having the strings at a bearing thereon, but alternately as to those of each row, and skeleton brace-bars for the sounding-board, a pair for each row of the bridge-posts and severally attached to the body, and those of each pair converging from the rear to the front of the instrument and along the opposite sides of the row of said bridge-posts to which they belong, substantially as described, for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set* my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

I. D. BAGDASARIAN.

Witnesses:

ALBERT W. BROWN, LAUL STEPHANUS. 

